The Temporary Detective

Chapter Nineteen

"Can I go with you to your emotional reality class next week?" Isobel asked Nikki, who had come in just before noon and was wearing a sensational pair of lemon yellow leather pants that showed off her long, slender legs.

Nikki raised an eyebrow at Isobel. "Really? You didn't seem so into it when I invited you."

"I've been thinking about it, and, like you said, singers aren't always so truthful in their acting. I really should get back in class."

Nikki considered this a moment, then nodded. "All right, then. But you'll have to ask Frank for the time off. It's from ten to twelve on Monday."

"I can skip lunch on Tuesday and Wednesday. Is it okay if I bring a friend?"

"Terence usually allows only one auditor per class, but I'll ask. Is your friend a singer too?"

Isobel shook her head vigorously. "Not at all."

They worked in silence for a while. Isobel had almost finished uploading and organizing the contents of Doreen's flash drives. There were only a few files left to transfer, but the urge to procrastinate was strong. She considered trying again to see Stan. She had happened by twice already, but both times he was behind closed doors with Frank.

She looked over at Nikki, who was manipulating an incomprehensible spreadsheet on her computer.

"Nikki?"

"Mmmmm."

"Did Doreen have a boyfriend?"

Nikki snorted. "That cow?"

"Somebody might have found her attractive," Isobel said.

"Who? And believe me, from the way that woman talked about sex, it was obvious she wasn't getting any."

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you notice how obsessed she was? Doreen could find sexual innuendo in the most banal sentence. She was always making lewd, insinuating comments about other people's sex lives. And whenever anyone did something she didn't like, she'd threaten to spank them. Believe me, that didn't go down well with Paula."

"We know Stan found her attractive," Isobel reminded her.

"We know Stan married her." Nikki rolled her chair away from her desk to look at Isobel. "Not the same thing. And don't forget, the marriage was annulled. I'm guessing one look at Doreen naked sent Stan running back to City Hall."

"Maybe," Isobel said, "but I still think Doreen must have had somebody."

"What on earth makes you think that?"

Isobel was about to share the diaphragm tidbit with Nikki, but James's warning flashed through her mind. She couldn't quite convince herself that Nikki was dangerous. Still, it was probably best not to confide.

"It just—I don't know—boyfriends and murders seem to go together so often."

"I never heard her on the phone with anyone who could have been a boyfriend," Nikki said. "And her conversations weren't exactly discreet."

Isobel remembered overhearing Doreen massacring metaphors on her first day. Nikki was right; if she'd had a boyfriend, it would hardly have been a secret. But how did that explain the diaphragm?

"You're right. I don't know what I was thinking," Isobel said. She stood up and stretched her legs. "I'm going to take a little break."

Now that she'd exhausted every possible distraction except trying Stan again, she headed back his way. Maybe he and Doreen had had some kind of latter-day reconciliation and were finally consummating their non-marriage. In any case, there was a reasonable chance that he held the key to the diaphragm, whether Doreen was putting it in for him or for someone he was jealous of.